Edinburg, Texas, corn mill cited by US Department of Labor`s OSHA after a worker was engulfed and fatally asphyxiated in a grain bin silo

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Azteca Milling LP in Edinburg for seven serious safety violations following a February incident when a worker inside a grain silo, attempting to move clumped corn byproducts, was engulfed, asphyxiated and then died.

'The tragedy was preventable. The employer should have known that entering grain bins is extremely dangerous and should not be done unless absolutely necessary, and then only when hazard control measures have been properly implemented,' said Michael Rivera, OSHA's area director in Corpus Christi. 'Suffocation can occur very quickly when a worker becomes buried by grain. Moving grain acts like quicksand and can bury a worker in seconds.'

The serious violations include failing to provide an adequate emergency action plan; train workers about entering the grain silo; issue a permit for silo entry; test the atmosphere condition prior to silo entry; provide a body harness or lifelines that limit the worker from sinking further than waist-deep; provide an observer stationed outside of the grain silo for assistance; and provide suitable equipment for rescue operations. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

OSHA is working with the grain and agricultural industries and the agricultural community to educate employers and workers about the six major hazards of the grain and feed industry. Through training, decals, brochures, websites and other communication, OSHA will continue to work to improve awareness of these hazards and the safety and health of workers on farms and in grain-handling facilities. OSHA has also published information related to common grain industry hazards and abatement methods, proper bin entry techniques, sweep auger use and many other grain-related topics at www.osha.gov/SLTC/grainhandling/index.html. OSHA's Grain Bin LEP is used in 25 states. The National Grain Entrapment Prevention Initiative has also developed a flier on grain bin safety at http://grainnet.com/pdf/Grain_Entrapment_Prevention.pdf*.

Proposed penalties total $49,000. The company, which specializes in cutting lumber to size for its customers, has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's Dallas area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Corpus Christi office at 361-888-3420.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

Related news

With grain harvest well underway statewide thanks to favorable weather conditions throughout the region, growers are reminded that taking extra precautions when handling grain can lessen the potential for injury.
When working around grain storage facilities, incidents such as slips, trips, falls, severe trauma injuries, entanglement or engulfment can happen in a fraction of a second, said Kent McGuire, agriculture safety and health coordinator for Ohio State University Extension. OSU Extension is the outreach...

Employer name: Country Vision Cooperative709 Mill StreetReedsville, Wisconsin
Investigation site: W2468 County Road EChilton, Wisconsin
Citations issued: Sept. 14, 2015
Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Appleton Area Office cited the Chilton facility for one willful and three serious safety violations. OSHA opened an investigation of the facility, which stores wheat, corn and soybeans, in June 2015 after receiving a complaint...

For most of his adult life, a 52-year-old man avoided the dangers of working at a Grantsburg feed mill. In November 2014, he was trying to unclog a sump when he was engulfed by corn and died in a grain bin.
After an inspection, investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor`s Occupational Safety and Health Administration identified two willful and eight serious safety violations at Burnett Dairy Cooperative.
Inspectors found that Burnett did not follow safety standards for entering grain bins; failed to...

It takes only 60 seconds for a worker to be submerged in flowing grain; more than half of those engulfed in grain die. Workers at Hanby Farms in Nashport were exposed to being buried in grain or overcome by noxious fumes because the company did not verify that conditions were safe before allowing employees to enter bins at the grain elevator and feed mill.
U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors visited Hanby Farms Inc. on Nov. 6, 2014, under the Local Emphasis Program...

He walked into the grain storage bin on his own two feet, but he left in an ambulance. The 35-year-old had been working for the Beattie Farmers Union Cooperative for about a year when one day he became entangled in an auger that was inadvertently turned on while he was cleaning out the bin. At the hospital, doctors amputated all the toes on his left foot. The U.S. Department of Labor`s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the Aug. 28, 2014, incident and found that the company failed to place...

Customer comments

No comments were found for Edinburg, Texas, corn mill cited by US Department of Labor`s OSHA after a worker was engulfed and fatally asphyxiated in a grain bin silo. Be the first to comment!